The original church was 100% Jewish.
There were many Gentiles who were attracted to the Jewish religion. (The centurion with the dying servant built them a Synagogue.)
So, yes, I can, without reservation, imagine Gentiles having no problem embracing Jewish worship. In fact, Paul had to constantly combat the gentile willingness to submit to circumcision and keep the Law of Moses.
What I can't imagine is that they would suddenly change their habitual manner of worship to resemble a, northern European, Protestant, evangelical service of 1600 years in the future.
That Christian worship in the early church (and up until today among liturgical sects) came from the temple worship and the synagogue practices is well established.
See: The Jewish Roots of Christian Liturgy, Eugene J. Fisher, Ed.
I suspect that is because you have unconsciously imposed your personal experience into the scripture.
I remember talking with a Jewish convert to Roman Catholicism. She stated that, when she attended the mass, everything she had been taught as a Jew fell into place and she was completely at home with the liturgy because it was so similar to what she was already familiar.
Remember that the entire church was liturgical, using the format described by Justin, until some time after Luther, Calvin, et. al. who continued the form of the ancient liturgy.
That the Christian liturgy has its source in Jewish, pre-Christian liturgical practices of the temple and synagogue is not even debatable. But, you'll have to go to historical records as the scriptures do not clearly address the topic.
The Corinthian passages do not preclude what Justin described as having been received from the apostles who were taught them by Jesus.
Again: That the early church had a developed liturgy by the second century is attested to by the statements of Justin Martyr.
Justin Martyr: (AD 100-165) The First Apology of Justin Chapter LXVII.—Weekly Worship of the Christians.
…… (1) And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and
(2) the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits;
(3) then, when the reader has ceased, the president1 verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.
(4) Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended,
(5) bread and wine and water are brought, and the president1 in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and
(6) the people assent, saying Amen;
(7) and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, (the Eucharist) and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons………….
Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples,
(8) He (Jesus) taught them (the apostles & disciples) these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
Justin described a gathering
(a) of the entire local church,
(b) at a place which would accommodate them,
(c) on Sunday.
He then described the process of the meeting which are easily identified by anyone familiar with liturgical worship as:
A. the Liturgy of the word
(1) The reading of the Gospels or Prophets
(2) The sermon
(3) The prayers of the people
B. The Liturgy of the Eucharist
(4) The consecration of the bread and wine (by the presider, AKA: "priest")
(5) The “great Amen”
(6) The people receive the Eucharist
The source of this form of liturgy:
Justin stated that it was Jesus who taught this form of worship. Thus, Justin refuted the notion that the Mass was a later development.
What Justin describes is the basic format of the liturgy that is followed to this day in all Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Coptic and Assyrian Churches.
Of note: The apostle Thomas established churches in India beginning in AD 52. When the Portuguese arrived in the 1400's, they were astounded to find a Christian church that celebrated the "Mass". The Mar Toma Church had been isolated from the west for almost 1000 years yet their liturgical worship was essentially the same as what was practiced in Rome and Constantinople.
1. The “president” refers to the presiding presbyter or the overseer. The word “presbyter” or “elder” (presbuteros) has come down to us in modern English as “priest” (From Middle English "prestor") and the word overseer (episcopos) has come down to us in English as “bishop.”
Blessings on you and your tribe
jim †
